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01/03/2017

HPIO holds forum to explore Ohio's 2016 State Health Assessment

As state agencies prepare state budget proposals and the Ohio General Assembly prepares for the next two-year session, a forum hosted by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO) on December 8 explored the three priority areas that emerged from Ohio’s 2016 State Health Assessment:

maternal and infant health

chronic disease

mental health and addiction.

Ohio is a large and diverse state that faces many health challenges despite a wealth of health care resources. Several national scorecards and rankings place Ohio in the bottom quartile of states for health. Even more troubling, Ohio’s performance on population health outcomes has steadily declined relative to other states over the past few decades. Ohio also has significant health disparities by race, income and geography, and spends more on health care than most other states.

The purpose of Ohio’s 2016 State Health Assessment is to provide a comprehensive and actionable picture of health and well-being in Ohio in order to:

Inform identification of priorities in the state health improvement plan

Provide a template for state agencies and local partners with a uniform set of categories and metrics to use in related assessments.

Participants at the Dec. 8 forum were presented with information on how state and local policies and practices can improve health throughout the life course, including opportunities for healthcare system & access, prevention and social determinants of health.